Hit Record

WARNING - well nerdy

At the end of this month a record i began work on over a year ago is released. This was certainly a labour of love as i was not only involved in the engineering but also the songwriting and arrangement of the record.

Burn the fleet formed a few years ago and instantly blew me away. They rehearsed in the studio i used to call home and as such i heard their first jams and as the songs developed i made sure that they’d cut their first demos with me. Live the band were, and even more so now, absolutely biblical. After recording “the mistress” together I stayed close with the guys and late in 2010 began to bully them into writing their new record and eventually recording it with me over the summer of 2011. While it’s still relatively fresh in my mind i thought i’d write a little recording blog on it.

In late march we did a number of preproduction sessions to work on the new material that made up the modern shape. Generally these sessions were simple live sessions after which we would sit and listen through chopping bits out and moving stuff around to see what worked best. My first impression was that the bands songs had moved away from the riff based arrangements of mistress and more into slow burn territory. A lot of dynamics, light and shade etc early on it reminded me of acts like ‘Kings of Leon’ and ‘Local Natives’ but obviously more guitar based and more aggressive. With the song structures relatively ‘settled’ we set off early one morning to spend a few days in my good buddy Peter Miles studio in the devon wilderness. The thought process behind this was 2 fold: Firstly Pete’s live room is vast and I’d long wanted to try it and secondly i thought it would set the  mood for all of us to head off together and get stuck in with no distractions.

We got unpacked and Pete had been good enough to set up a number of bits for us to audition before we begun recording. We settled, after a fashion, upon a 24” premier kick drum and a pair of Tama Bubinga toms. We used 4 different snares on the record - a mono-ply Maple pearl, Ludwig coliseum, Sonor phonic and dans little pearl 12 x 5. Mic’ing was a mix of some simple bits and some crazy ideas. Kick was Heil pr40, Sony C-500 and a sub kick, snare was 57 (with a heil Pr-30 next to it but eventually unused) and Sony C-500, toms 421’s top and bottom, spot mics on hats and ride and then 2 over head options which were a spaced pair of SE 4400’s and an ‘xy’ pair of Neumann km184’s. Part of the reason for traveling was Pete’s live room so me made sure we had loads of room options including a spaced pair of Coles 4038, an AEA R88 in the middle of the room and some AKG 414’s up against the far wall. On top of those we used an RE20 by the kit which we CRUSHED and an SE pencil mic dropped through a hole in the floor! The majority of the sound that we all dug was the Heil, 57, 4400’s and the wide Coles. Front end wise we used Pete’s Harrison Channels for Kick and snare and a lot of Phoenix DRS channels for the rest. We also used 1176’s for some room mic’s  and a few other bits of compression on the way in but generally it stayed quite polite.

Tracking the drums went pretty (Dan is a great drummer - i’d worked with him before on Fantastic Castle and my own band Viva Sleep) smoothly taking little over a day and a half to get Dans parts down to 11 songs. Editing was a simple affair (flex time in Logic 9 being the chosen tool) there was very little done to drum takes - the majority of editing was structural, moving parts and replacing other parts as the arrangements were further refined. In terms of processing the drums in the mix there was judicious use of Waves SSL and API, Slate VCC and an outboard 2-1176 strapped across the whole buss tickling them into submission.

After the drums we moved straight onto tracking guitars with both Jack and James. We used A LOT of Telecasters, Orange Rocker, JCM800 and our strange little Duesentrieb Black Tiger Pre-amp into a mesa dual rectifier. Cab wise we did a pepsi challenge between our oversized Marshall 4x12, Blackstar Artisan and Orange 2x12 and settled on the Marshall Cab for James and the Blackstar for jack. We tracked guitars with fx in most instances using Ibanez TS-9, Line 6 delay, Memoryman, Boss PS2, EHX Hog  and our vintage Roland Space echo which is used for the majority of the feedback delay guitar throughout the album. The guitars were tracked through API pre’s and later Phoenix pre’s and all went through 1176 and occasionally API EQ. The 1176 was only doing a little bit of gain reduction but it seemed to add a bit of glue to everything. All the guitars were tracked with 57+421 in combo with a room mic, normally a Coles 4038. There is a lot going on guitar wise, a lot of reverb and delay tracks and a lot of texture but the majority of the riffing/song structure is just 2 tracks of guitar. The additional material is all part of the dynamics of the record, the light and shade that was so obvious in the song writing from the very start. 

At times the guitars were hard to mix because there was so much going on in the big, expansive parts, but, in general the processing was similar to the drum processing; touch of EQ and compression and a few bits with more obvious squishing and filtering.

Soon after wrapping the guitars, after some basic editing/topping and tailing, Andy came in and we spent a few days on the bass. The bass was great, we loved the bass tone straight away and did hardly anything to it! We tracked his Geddy Lee Jazz bass through a old boss Bass overdrive pedal split to a Sansamp and an Ampeg svt and 8x10 classic mic’d up with an Audio Technica 4047 and a Heil PR40. There was no compression or EQ on the way in and very little processing in the box beyond some subtle EQ and compression: The Geddy Lee is so nice! Fresh strings played a big part of the tone too, bright and zingy! There is a lot of distortion on the record and for clean bass we used the same signal path minus the Boss Pedal. Really simple but I’m still really happy with how it sounds!

This is as far as we got for a few weeks as we took a little break while the guys “finished” up writing lyrics. As the studio was booked up for quite a while we ended up taking up residence in my spare room which became and impromptu studio featuring an AT4047, SE reflexions filter, API lunch box, Apogee Duet and my MBP. It actually worked a treat! We made a little vocal booth using some duvets and the SE filter, tied some scarves around the mic stand for extra Rock and got to work. It took a few sessions to get all of the songs in order and much of this time was spent working systematically through the songs so once the main parts were down we’d move straight on to harmonies, BV’s and the lovely choral themes that run throughout the record. We tracked the vocals without compression and ALL of the vocals went through the 4047. I really like this mic…Actually, i really trust it. I sometimes prefer our Peluso if the vocalist isn’t to sibilant and i quite often use an SM7 for scream/shout stuff but i’ve had the 4047 for years and it always delivers. Great mic.

As you can imagine the vocals were PUNISHED in the mix as they were tracked so clean. There was some ‘fet’ style compression and some limiting plus automation of the vocals making sure Andy and James stayed right up in the mix. It was one of my only concerns about the record that vocals were so present coupled with the fact that there is NO vocal tuning on Andy’s vocals with the exception of one song which was done more out of habit than necessity. James had a light brush of Melodyne to pull him into line with Andy in some places, but if there’s any parts where the vocals don’t sound “Perfect” it’s because they were song by a human. Andy is simply one of the most gifted singers I’ve ever worked with, beyond the obvious stuff like pitch control and timbre he is so utterly convincing with everything he sings. Total commitment to the lyrics and he hardly ever needs more than a take or two for any song. James may not have Andy’s natural vocal gift but he has a cool, distinctive voice that compliments Andrews, he also has way better hair and great muscles.

The creative process of this record was a delight for me to be part of. I love to get involved with the projects I’m working on and with this one my input was not humored but, instead, invited, encouraged and certainly considered constructive to the development of “The Modern Shape”. I began this record with faith that Burn The Fleet were capable of writing a great rock album, one which felt organic and expansive and as the record is about to be release I’m confident that that faith will be vindicated.

It’s the hardest part.. Letting go / giving up

I’m not convinced a mix is ever finished it’s just desserted. The weird thing is, as a listener i accept anything on it’s merits ie. i love equally “Superuknown” by Soundgarden for it’s amazing ambience and textures and Phoenix’ “Wolfgang Amadeus” for it’s lush, shiny fakeness and despite there being imperfections in both i don’t care BUT when it comes to mixes at work i’m always freaking that the snares not loud enough / bass guitar is too loud / OH MY GOD WAS THAT A CLICK

So this week i’m tying up loose ends on a few sessions and getting a few sent off for mastering: Donnie Brasco’s record is off to WWSM as is Checking Pulses single and potentially so is the Housefires ep which i think would be a great decision!! (considering the Veils, BTF, Long Haul and Last Witness records have all gone there i think it’s easy to tell who we trust to master stuff!)

I’m also finishing the Ed Wood record that Lew and I tracked a week or so back (gnarly) and going to revisit a few sessions from earlier in the year to see if any fresh ears can work magic!

I also have to mix the This Fall stuff that i was tracking right up till i went off on my holidays, should be a lot of fun.

Been Working with a rad bunch of boys from the west country since Thursday. DOnnie Brasco are defacto members of the UK hardcore scene but to my ears they have a lot more in  common with late 90’s/early 2000  ”emo/HC” stuff like Bear Vs Shark, Braid, texas is etc They have 3 guitarists which is a real change to the script and better yet they use them well for light and shade and at times serious weight!

Drums were tracked over a day on our new OLD SOnor Phonic kit. The sizes are awesome! 24” lkick , 14” rack and an 18” floor. The snare was our solid bronze monster left totally open and un-damped (as were the toms). We had a few tech issues (ncluding the peluso drooping on to the bass drums resonant half way through a take and getting a serious beating AND THEN the 1176 which was warming up the room mics crapped out!!) However the basic soundis in the overheads, close mics on the kick and snare (kick was through ssl alpha pres and an ssl eq the snare was through the great river and was tickled by an ssl eq) and the chamber mic.

In terms of processing, so far it’s been pretty minimal which i guess is a good sign as it’s sounding sweet! Bit of eq here and there but certainly nothing crazy which is a refreshing change after the heavy processing of recent sessions.

Post drums we started out tracking guitars with Rick (signal chain: Tele > Mesa Stilletto > Ampeg V4 cab > 57/U89/421/414 room mic> Great river + API 312’s) Aimed for a rich tone, not too heavy or gainy  - the mesa took a bit of tweaking but once we got the tone down an started prinitng takes it sounded great, very saturated and squishy.

Guitar 2 was Tom (Tele HH/SG > Orange Rockerverb > same as rick) bit brighter in tone as Tom’s taking a  lot of lead parts (used some memory boy and holy grail in places, oh and a danelectro spring king!) Really finding the U89 to be a killer guitar mic, it’s more neutral than it’s celebrated sibling but that makes it a really versatile tool (so far it’s really shone on overheads, guitars and bass cabs).

Today we spent the morning tracking bass and i am stoked with the tone we got! Defeater are a big influence on the band and are certainly a strong reference for the record so in true Jay Maas style the bass was tracked through a 5150 (into the Orange 8x12 and combined with some sansamp goodness) it cuts and totally fills the bottom end, really happy there.

Guitar number 3 w/ Paul presented a bit of a challenge as pauls pretty sweet sounding ibanez with seymours had a few intonation issues (side not - Floyd Rose must die) and as a lefty he couldn’t use any of the studio veterans so we had to get pretty creative with tuning! BUT it does sound great so far (Paul went through the Venerable JCM800 via Lew’s modded Tubescreamer and then into the Blackstar cab - this was mic’d with the 57 and U89 but also an R1 ribbon which is sounding greaat, really complimenting the other tones).

Tomorrow we’re aiming to wrap guitars by early afternoon and get cracking on vocals. I’m really looking forward to getting this one tied up, it’s off to Alan Douches at WWSM for mastering i believe which is AWESOME, he’s a legend!

Such a huge array of plug ins available to the humble studio geek/producer/software pirateer i thought i’d make a list of some faves for posterity.

Drum Channels:

Waves SSL channel <3

This gets used a lot. Eq is good, comp is colourful fun - Just a good channel strip

Drum buss duties depends on what kind of stuff i’m doing and routing options etc quite often ill use outboard at this stage but a worthy mention is another great waves plug in!

This is the API 2500 i have gear lust for a real one. Lot of options and they pretty much all sound good.

Grrrr

The 2-1176 at the studio is definitely the most used outboard at the studio. Can do subtle…kind of….but does crush/smash/nuke/pump/thwack and splat way better

Vocal leveller

Can never settle on my fave in the box vox sweetener but this is definitely up there! Abbey Road TG limiter 2005. Adds a bit of gloss and squeeze. Can be used to extremes too!

Saturation plugs are pretty popular now, this was amongst the first and is still a great tool on most things.

Reverb / delay etc is a total ball ache. I can never settle on any i like EXCEPT

Ua’s 140 … pretty vintage sounding but my fave verb ever!

My newest plug in is this over priced gimmicky tape machine thing…it does sound great but the GUI is ludicrous, distracting and pointless it annoys me as much as i enjoy it…which is why i now use logics plug in “control” view